CNET Update

Snapchat removes racially insensitive filter

The company says the filter was supposed to be playful and inspired by anime. But it looked just plain racist to a lot of people.

1:20 / August 11, 2016

Transcript

Snapchat screws up again.
On Wednesday, August 10, Snapchat released a new filter.
There's no real way around this, so let's call it what it is, it's flat out racist.
The filter itself puts slanted shut eyes on a person's image with raised eyebrows.
A number of people put screen shots of the filter's effects on Twitter.
Unsurprisingly, these Twitter users noted the filter was incredibly racist, describing it as yellowface.
Snapchat told The Verge that the filter was supposed to be playful and inspired by anime.
Snapchat has since removed the filter and said it will not reintroduce it again.
What's crazy is This isn't even the first time Snapchat has gotten into hot water over racial insensitivity.
Back in April of this year, Snapchat introduced a Bob Marley lens.
What did it do?
It put dreadlocks and a hat on a person's image.
It also darkened skin.
People were calling it digital black face.
A number of people including the deputy editor of GQ.com, Kevin Nguyen, offered help.
On Twitter he posted, @Snapchat pay me $2 million a year and I can tell you if a new filter is racist or not before you release it.
Hey Snapchat, maybe you wanna take him up on that offer.
That's it for this tech news update.
I'm Iyaz Akhtar and you can on top of the biggest stories at cnet.com/update.

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